A Winters Knight
by Chazz 'Selrahc
Summary: AU  A story in which the 'wishing pole' gets someone in trouble and our favorite hero has to be knight.


Palumpolum was many things. It was called 'the Capital of Commerce' because of the shops that lined it's streets, as opposed to the online shopping that had taken over most of Cocoon.

It being a port town offered it a magnificent view of the ocean and the sea bound ships. The forests surrounding it also added a flare of nature.

It's people were warm. It's structures beautiful and bustle of a thriving market place plentiful.

It was also stupid cold in the winter. It was the fourth of January and snow blanketed the city. It's temperatures dropped down to the upper teens. This caused the normally rambunctious inhabitants of Palumpolum to stay inside as much as possible.

Of course not everyone had this luxury.

A sixteen year old male trudged through the snow of one of Palumpolum's largest parks.

He wore boots that were a dark off white color. They were laced and strapped tightly, the hem of his dark green pants tucked into them.

His pants were thick and insulated for maximum warmth. A thin black belt was tied snuggly around his waist.

A fluffy dark yellow jacket was worn over this. The jacket had a black tribal design running down his neckline to his right wrist. His hands were clad in gloves that were black on the top and white at the bottom.

A green bandana, also with a tribal design, was tied tightly over his mouth. It was a half decent substitute for a warm mask.

His face was pale and his silver hair fell down in his green eyes in messy spikes.

_So cold…_ The teenager known as Hope thought. _To cold… must save Dr. pepper…._

Hope had a paper bag swinging by his side. The bag was filled with his favorite soda, DR. pepper and a chilly steak sandwich wrapped tightly in tin foil.

Hope looked around the park. It was between the market and his house. The grey cobble stone walkway that wound around the park was the only thing not covered in the blissful white powder. The snow was pure and untouched. Not even disturbed by animal tracks.

The park was more like a forest. Hundreds of trees. Unlike the trees most people thought of these didn't lose their leaves when winter came. So the trees were beautifully covered in snow, the occasional clump falling to the ground as Hope passed.

Then there were the street lights. They were old fashioned metal poles with a bright light affixed to their top. Hope could see a thin layer of ice on the rustic copper colored poles. Hope had always thought that odd soft yellow color they spewed over the park to be romantic.

_Forget romance, DR. pepper is freezing, must get to fridge…_

Hope may have been in a hurry, but as he looked up at the crystal clear sky, it's bright stars and glorious moon he couldn't help but walk. He basked in the splendor of such peaceful beauty…

"hmph…"

Hope looked up ahead and saw a seventeen year old girl standing in front of one of the street lamps.

She wore black furry boots that a dark brown pair of pants went over. A strong looking leather belt tied around the pants, a knife hanging loosely from its side.

A white coat covered her body. It was thinner than a snow coat, but it must have been warm because she wasn't shivering.

Her fingers were gloved in brown leather gloves with no fingers. Her fingers were slender and beautifully, carefully manicured though not done in any color.

Her shinning silver hair, that had a distinct pink tint to it, was hanging over her right shoulder. Her bangs fell in her blue eyes, a few of the longer strands just tickling the tip of her nose. Around her neck hung a beautiful lightning pendant, which seemed to glow softly.

She stood with mouth open, tongue touching the pole.

Hope frowned at this as he approached the seventeen year old girl. It wasn't everyday you saw a beautiful girl standing in front of street lamp, much less one that was so purposefully standing with her tongue stuck out.

Though as Hope approached her he could see why. An engraving in the pole read 'wishing pole. One lick – one wish.' Hope pulled down his bandana and set his bag down. He then slowly, cautiously, approached her.

The girl was unaware of Hope as he walked up beside her. she was too busy staring death into the side of the pole to notice. Her calm blue eyes burned with a passionate hatred at the pole, more specifically where her tongue was attached.

She did however notice when Hope put a hand on her shoulder. Her eyes became wide and her strong face flushed with embarrassment as Hope's hand rested on her shoulder.

Their eyes met, calming green and embarrassed blue, and Hope frowned at her. She smiled sheepishly, or as best as she could smile with her tongue stuck to the pole.

Hope gently pulled back on her shoulder. Though he stopped as the girl exclaimed in pain, eyes closing and tearing, as her tongue was forcefully pulled.

Hope frowned. This was not a problem he had expected. He gave her a confident smile.

Then he stoically placed his chin in-between his index finger and thumb and scratched his chin a timeless gesture of contemplation. His brow scrunched upwards and his eyes narrowed at the girls tongue.

The girl meanwhile watched Hope hopefully. There was something about him, an air of confidence and maturity, which put her at ease. Made her know that he would get it all worked out.

Hope then smiled as he had an idea. He leaned towards the pole and blew several gentle warm breaths at the tip of her tongue.

His breath, being warmer then the cold nighttime air, made a see through white as it hit her tongue and the pole. The feeling of warm breath against her now frigid tongue made her spine tingle, apparently it was quite enjoyable.

It was so enjoyable in fact that she almost didn't notice her tongue coming free. A thin trial of saliva was all that attached the tip of her tongue to the pole as she stood up to her full five six height.

Hope smiled happily. He had just saved someone a lot of time, and from the possibility of freezing to death, and he was proud of it.

He started to turn around to go and retrieve his bag. He was stopped as the girl grabbed his forearm and spun him around.

Hope opened his mouth to say something but found it occupied as the girl bent down slightly and kissed him full on the lips. Hope's body went rigged as she encompassed him in a hug and drew him in closer.

This had never happened to Hope before. A girl, a female, a woman, has never once before kissed him. Well that wasn't completely true. When he was a little kid his mother would kiss him on the forehead and tell him goodnight.

But that was nothing compared to this. This feeling made him shiver like he was freezing and feel hot all at the same time. It was new and wonderful and at the same time familiar and normal.

It was so many things all at the same time Hope didn't have enough time to understand it as the girl stepped back from him.

That was however when they stopped. The tips of their tongues were frozen together.

Hope frowned at this, very much confused by what was going on, while the girl just smiled. She then leaned in and kissed Hope all over again.

Above the couple was a twinkle in the sky. The bright moon cast its bright embrace over Palumpolum, the stars did their intricate twinkling dance and in some far away heaven Hope's long dead mother smiled.

And on earth, for two people at least, the winter's cold embrace never felt so warm…

**(A/N)**

**Disclaimer: Do you really think I own it?**

**Can't sleep. I've been having this play over and over and over (ETC) in my head all day. And now I wake up at twelve stupid thirty at night after having a dream about this (I was Hope! Yes! Good dream!) and I need to write this or I won't get any sleep.**

**And don't worry, it's a one shot. And it will remain that way, at least until I finish Because you are my Hope. I just need need need NEED to get this out of my head so I can catch a couple hours of sleep.**

**But don't fear, I'm already halfway through with the next chapter and should be posting in a couple days... and it turns out I drove to school today for nothing… school starts Tuesday, not Monday…**

**I'm going for a different style here then in my other fiction. I don't know what to call it but I on purposefully wanted to portray this without any words. Kind of like a words aren't needed kind of thing.**

**The girl is on purposely not named, why? Because if you've played this game then I think you know who the girl is. But just to see, who can guess the name of the female character in this fiction? If you guess right you get… nothing, I'm broke and I ate my cookies, sorry. If you guess wrong then… sorry… still nothing.**

**For those of you don't want to guess and don't know who it is I'll tell you.**

**(Lightning 'Claire' Farron) **

**Now good night! If it's day where you are then good night! Morning, Goodnight. After noon, goodnight! Because I'm going to bed.**

**(If any of that sounded grumpy it's not on purpose, in my head I meant it the kind of sarcastic)**


End file.
